Nov. 14, 2018, 7:27 p.m.

Public health officials were responding to a norovirus outbreak at an evacuation center for fire victims in Chico, the main city near Paradise.

Lisa Almaguer, the public information officer for the Butte County Department of Public Health, said that norovirus was confirmed at Neighborhood Church, a Chico shelter where about 200 evacuees are staying.

Almaguer did not know how many people were ill but said that the sick have been separated from the healthy.

The fire has killed at least 56 people, destroyed more than 10,300 structures and scorched 138,000 acres in Butte County. It was 35% contained as of Wednesday evening, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials.

Nov. 14, 2018, 6:01 p.m.

Malibu schools will remain closed until after Thanksgiving, the school district announced Wednesday.

Officials said many areas remain under evacuation in the city, where numerous homes were lost in the Woolsey fire. Here is a statement from the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District:

Our hearts go out to all of the families and community members in Malibu, and in all the surrounding communities, who have lost homes, whose homes have sustained significant damage, and who are currently displaced. Most of the City of Malibu is still under evacuation order and we understand that many people are anxious to return to their properties to inspect loss, damage or at a minimum, very ashy and dusty conditions. All four of our schools are still in the current evacuation area. Malibu High School, Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, Point Dume Marine Science School and Webster Elementary School will remain closed until such time as we can safely reopen them. Right now, we know at a minimum that schools will be closed this week and the week of Thanksgiving.

Nov. 14, 2018, 3:27 p.m.

Smoke from the Camp fire near Paradise, Calif. (Mason Trinca / For The Times)

Anna Dise and her father, Gordon Dise, 66, watched news of the Camp fire approaching their home near Butte Creek for as long as they could Thursday until the power went out midday.

It’s hard for her to nail down times — the sky looked black even at 2 p.m. After that, it was up to Anna to keep an eye out for flames. About 7 or 8 p.m., she thinks, she saw them coming from the Skyway down the hill toward her and her father’s 2.5-acre property, in the 2700 block of Eskin Maidu Trail.

“I get why they turned off the power, to prevent more power lines from sparking and stuff, but it would have been nice to be able to watch the news and hear what was going on,” said Anna, 25.

Justin Freer, 38, idled in his Chevy Volt by the Arco station at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, waiting to see whether Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies would let him back to a property of his near Big Rock Drive.

Officials had begun repopulation efforts Wednesday afternoon, setting up a checkpoint to screen residents coming through the area. Malibu residents who live between the ocean and the northern city limit and in the neighborhoods of Serra Retreat and Sweet Water Mesa were allowed back home starting at 2 p.m.

The Malibu Colony neighborhood and Civic Center area remained closed.

Freer, who also has a home in Thousand Oaks, had to flee the Woolsey fire on Thursday night and had not been able to get through to Malibu until Wednesday. His car was filled with luggage, Brawny paper towels and more.

The low-slung campus, with its green-and-white buildings situated among the pine trees, was unscathed in the fire. Gray smoke filled the air around it Wednesday afternoon, and power lines dangled over sidewalks.

Nov. 14, 2018, 1:00 p.m.

Smoke billows over western Malibu from a flare-up of the Woolsey fire in Lake Sherwood on Tuesday. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

Some residents returning to their homes after evacuating from the Woolsey fire are being warned to prepare for potential mud flows, a deadly threat that will continue to loom over the region as the rainy season approaches.

Authorities told Malibu residents during a town hall meeting Tuesday that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s watershed emergency response team will try to determine what areas of the city are most at risk for mud flows in the event of a strong storm.